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Page 57
34. _Beles dotter_. Ingeborg's father was Bele, king of Sogn in western
Norway.
35. _Till Oden ... uppstiger hennes �ttartal_. The royal families were
supposed to have descended from the gods
(see note, canto XXIV: 237).
36. _Torstens son_. Fritiof was the son of Torsten Vikingsson, a viking
chief.
37. Observe the numerous expressions of the defiant spirit of Fritiof
prior to his going into exile. Note also in stanzas 37 and 38 his
ingenuity in proving his own high rank.
38. _Tor_, god of thunder and of war, the strongest of the gods. All
noble human strength came from him. He was the friend of man and the
enemy of the giants with whom he had many hard conflicts. His abode,
Trudvang, was marvelously beautiful. When he journeyed forth from
Trudvang, driving a span of he-goats, to meet the giants, thunder and
lightning arose.
CANTO II.
Stanza 1. _bonde_. This term is generally translated by the word peasant.
The word yeoman is often used as an equivalent term and sometimes the
original Scandinavian form _bonde_ is used in English. A _bonde_ was an
independent land-holder, liberty-loving, and, as a rule, an active
participant in public affairs.
3. _mj�d_, mead, a fermented drink made of water, honey and hops with a
flavoring of spices.
5. _altarrunden_. The pagan temples had no altars. The figure is borrowed
from the modern temple.
5. _offerlunden_. The Norse temples were usually surrounded by sacred
groves.
8. _hon_; antecedent is endr�kt.
8. _som ringen p� lansen_. This refers to the metal ring that served to
hold the point of the lance to the lance itself and thus gave it greater
strength.
11. _P� pelarstoder fyra_. According to Scandinavian mythology the
heavens were supported by four dwarfs, _Austre_, East, _V�stre_, West,
_Nordre_, North, and _S�dre_, South.
13. _Nog svika lungans tecken i offrad falk_. This assumes that the
Norsemen read signs by observing the entrails of animals. Authorities
differ on this point. Some maintain that the poet has here merely
borrowed from classical mythology.
13. _fl�rd �r m�ngen runa, som sk�rs p� balk_. Meaningless or deceptive
is many a rune that is cut in the staff. The early Northmen believed that
the will of the gods could be ascertained by writing runes on sticks of
wood which then were thrown on the ground and read by the priests.
18. _hur vis han het_ (heter). Expression is equivalent to "Hur vis han
�n m� heta."
18. _h�gb�nk_. In the primitive Scandinavian homes benches were placed
along the four walls. The men had their places along the long walls
(l�ngsidor) and the women along the end walls (kortsidor). At the center
of the two long walls were high seats of honor. The master of the house
occupied the one on the north side and the chief guest the one on the
south side.
21. _till Oden g�_, to die.
22. _Odens f�glar_. Oden is represented as having two birds, Hugin
(thought) and Munin (memory or, according to some authorities, the
longing that impels Oden to activity), which are dispatched to the earth
at every day-break and in the evening return to Oden and whisper into his
ears the news of the day's happenings.
26. _ty v�dret r�r f�r �rsv�xt och vind f�r lycka_. Equivalent to saying
that man is not himself the absolute master of his own destiny. The
forces of nature can thwart all his plans.
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